FEN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



FEN 



555 





to fasten a trellis to them. But in large gardens, it is better 

 to have the prospect open to the pleasure-garden, which 

 should be surrounded with a fosse, that from the garden the 

 adjacent country may be viewed; but this must depend on 

 the situation of the place, for if the prospect from the garden 

 be not good, it had better be excluded by a wall, or any 

 other fence, than remain exposed to view. And where a 

 garden lies near a populous town, and the adjoining grounds 

 are open to the inhabitants, if the garden be open, there will 

 be no walking there in good weather, without being exposed 

 to the passers by, which is very disagreeable. When fosses 

 surround a garden situated in a park, they are extremely 

 proper, because hereby the prospect of the park will be 

 enjoyed in the garden, which will thus be rendered much more 

 agreeable than those which are confined. There have been 

 numberless inventions for making these fosses, but there are 

 none in all respects preferable to those which have an up- 

 right wall next the garden, which, where the soil will admit 

 of a deep trench, should be six or seven feet high, so as to 

 be above the reach of boys ; and from the foot of this wall, 

 the slope on the outside should rise with a gradual easy 

 slope, to the distance of eighteen or twenty feet; and where 

 it can be allowed, if it slopes much farther, it will be easier, 

 and less perceptible as a ditch to the eye, when viewed at a 

 distance. But if the ground be naturally wet, so as not to 

 admit of a deep fosse, then, in order to make a fence against 

 cattle, if the wall be four feet high, and slight posts of three 

 feet and a half high are placed just behind the wall, with a 

 small chain carried on from post to post, no cattle or deer 

 will ever attempt to jump against it, therefore it will be a 

 secure fence against them ; and if painted of a dark lead 

 colour, they will not be discerned at a distance ; at the same 

 time that the chain will secure persons walking in the garden 

 from tumbling over; and if another chain be carried through 

 the posts at one foot from the ground, it will more effectually 

 prevent cattle from creeping under. In places where no 

 good prospects can be obtained from a garden, it is common 

 to make the enclosure of park-paling, which, if well perform- 

 ed, will last many years, and has a much better appearance 

 than a wall : this pale may be concealed by plantations of 

 shrubs and evergreens within, or else by a quick hedge, 

 which may be trained up so as to be an excellent fence by 

 the time the pales begin to decay. There are some persons 

 who make stockade fences round their gardens to keep out 

 cattle, which, when well made, will answer the purpose of a 

 fence ; but these being very expensive in the making, and 

 not very lasting, has prevented them from being brought into 

 common use. As to park fences, they are generally of paling, 

 which, if well made of winter-fallen oak, will last many years ; 

 but a principal thing to be observed in making these pales is 

 not to make them too heavy, for when they are so, their own 

 weight will cause them to decay ; therefore the pale should 

 be cleft thin, and the rails should be cut triangularly, to 

 prevent the wet from lodging upon them ; and the posts 

 ought to be good, not placed too far asunder, burning that 

 part of them which goes into the ground. If these directions 

 be observed, the pales will last upwards of forty years in 

 good order. The common way of making such fences, is to 

 have every other pale nine or ten inches above the interme- 

 diate ones, so that the fence may be six feet and a half high, 

 which is enough for fallow deer ; but where there are red 

 deer, the fence should be one foot higher, otherwise they 

 will leap over. Some enclose their parks with brick walls ; 

 and in countries where stone is cheap, the walls are built 

 with this material, some with, and others without mortar. 

 A kitchen-garden, if rightly contrived, will contain walling 



enough to afford a supply of such fruits as require the 

 assistance of a wall for any family ; and this garden being 

 situated on one side, and quite out of sight of the house, 

 may be surrounded with walls, to screen those persons in 

 the kitchen-garden from the sight of those in the pleasure- 

 garden ; and being locked up, the fruit will be much better 

 preserved than it can be in the public garden; and the 

 having too great a quantity of walling is often the reason why 

 so many defective trees are frequently seen in large gardens, 

 where there is not due care observed in their management. 

 The borders of pleasure-gardens are also, in general, too nar- 

 row for the roots of fruit-trees, which it is therefore useless 

 to plant there. The height of garden-walls should be from 

 ten to twelve feet high, which is a moderate proportion ; and 

 if the soil be good, it may in time be furnished with bearing 

 wood in every 'part, especially those parts planted with pears, 

 notwithstanding the branches being trained horizontally from 

 the bottom of the walls. The White Thorn, the Holly, the 

 Black Thorn, and the Crab, are separately recommended for 

 outward fences to a good ground, but it is said to be injudi- 

 cious to intermix them. The White Thorn is the best to 

 plant, because it is the most common, and may be clipped 

 so as to render it the closest and hardiest fence of any other 

 tree, and being very durable, is preferred to all others for 

 outward fences, or for the division of fields, where they are 

 exposed to cattle. The Black Thorn and Crab make very 

 good fences, and are to be raised like the White Thorn ; but 

 if the kernels of Apples or Crabs be sown, it is the best to 

 sow the pummace with them, and they will come up the 

 sooner, that is, in the first year, if sown in the autumn soon 

 after the fruit becomes ripe. If Crab-stocks be planted 

 while young, in the same manner as the quick, they soon 

 make excellent hedges ; and so will some sorts of plums, 

 especially such as are thorny. The Black Thorn is not so 

 much esteemed for fences as the White Thorn, because it is 

 apt to run more into the ground, and is not certain as to the 

 growing, especially when the plants are not set while very 

 young; but then, on the other hand, the bushes are by much 

 the better, and are also more lasting than the White Thorn, 

 or any other, for dead hedges, or to mend gaps ; nor are they 

 subject to be crept by cattle as the others are. The richer 

 the mould is, the better they will prosper, but yet they will 

 grow on the same sort of soil that the White Thorn does. The 

 Holly will make an excellent fence, and is preferable to all 

 the rest, except that at first it grows slowly ; but when once 

 it does grow, it makes amends by its height, strength, and 

 thickness. It is raised of young seedling plants or berries, as 

 the White Thorn is, and the berries will lie as long in the 

 ground before they come up. It delights most in strong 

 grounds, but will grow upon the driest gravel among rocks 

 and stones. French Furze will often do well upon dry sandy 

 banks, where few other plants will grow ; but they must be 

 kept very clean at the bottom, and cut thin, and never suffered 

 to grow too high, nor should they be cut in dry weather, or 

 late in autumn, nor early in the spring; the doing either of 

 which, is likely to make it die in patches, which is irrecover- 

 able ; it will never break out from old wood if cut close in, 

 after it has been suffered long to grow out. Fences may 

 likewise be made of Elder; if the soil be tolerably good, you 

 may put sticks of Elder, or truncheons ten or twelve feet 

 long, slopeways in your banks, so as to make a chequer- 

 work; and they will make a fence for a garden the quickest 

 of any thing, and be a good shelter. But these fences are 

 improper for a fine garden, because they shoot very irregu- 

 larly, and are ungovernable ; the roots of these trees also 

 spread very far, and draw away all the heart of the ground, 



